$467.45
The Medicare rebate on item 92435, psychiatrist assessment by video. Identical to in person, claimable once per 12 months.
Any state
The psychiatrist does not need to be in yours. Assessment access is national by video; prescribing rules stay local.
5 checks
Registration, gap in writing, medication wait, report portability, and no guaranteed-outcome marketing.
Part 1 of 3
How the legitimate version runs
A current GP referral, then one to two long video appointments with a named psychiatrist, the same structured assessment as in a room, then a written report, a letter back to your GP, and a management plan. The rebate is claimed on item 92435, and the process should feel thorough, because thorough is the product.
Video solves the geography problem that defines ADHD care in most of the country: a shortage in your city stops mattering when any psychiatrist in Australia can assess you. That makes comparing clinics on the gap after the rebate both possible and worthwhile, exactly as the cost guide lays out.
What video does not change: your state's prescribing rules, which follow where you live, not where the clinic is. The state register is the map, and in Queensland and South Australia the cheapest route may now be a GP rather than a screen.
Part 2 of 3
The five checks before you pay
One: the assessing practitioner's full name, verified on the Ahpra register. Two: the total gap after the rebate, in writing. Three: the wait for the medication appointment, not the intake call. Four: whether the report is written so your own GP can act on it, or locks you into their reviews. Five: no guaranteed diagnosis, no same day stimulant marketing.
Each check has a failure story behind it: unregistered assessors, four-figure surprise gaps, six week intake calls followed by six month medication waits, reports other doctors decline to act on, and mills whose only consistent product is an invoice. The resources page keeps the checklist version.
Subscription pricing deserves its own sentence: a model that only reveals costs as a monthly fee is answering a question you did not ask. Assessment is an event with a price; ongoing care is a choice you make afterwards, ideally with your GP in the loop.
Part 3 of 3
After the video: keeping care joined up
The report should land with your GP, not vanish into a portal. Where your state allows GP continuation, a portable report turns telehealth assessment into local ongoing care; where it does not yet, reviews continue by video and the report still anchors everything from workplace adjustments to any future reassessment.
Ask at the start what shared care looks like at the end: it is the single question that best predicts whether a clinic sees you as a patient or a subscription. New South Wales and Victoria opening GP prescribing through late 2026 makes report portability worth even more.
If both autism and ADHD are in play, confirm the clinician assesses both before booking a video anything; the AuDHD explainer covers why split assessments cost more and miss more.
Does this sound like you?
The recognition tool sorts thirty-two experiences into ADHD flavoured, autistic flavoured and common to both, and shows where your ticks sit. Two minutes, nothing leaves your device, and it is a mirror, not a test.
The short version
Quick answers
Is a telehealth ADHD assessment legitimate?
Fully, when it is a registered practitioner doing a real assessment. Item 92435, psychiatrist assessment by video, carries the same $467.45 rebate as in person, once per 12 months. Legitimacy is about who assesses you and how thoroughly, not the screen; the five checks on this page sort the field.
Does telehealth get around my state's prescribing rules?
No, and any service implying it does is a red flag. Stimulant prescribing authority is state law based on where you are, and a video call does not move you. What telehealth changes is access to assessment: the psychiatrist can be in any state, and the rebate is identical.
Do I still need a GP referral?
For the Medicare rebate on a psychiatrist assessment, yes, a current referral is what makes the item claimable. Some online clinics offer to arrange one; a referral from your own GP, who holds your history, is cheaper and better, and keeps your care joined up for afterwards.
What are the red flags with online ADHD clinics?
Guaranteed diagnosis, same day stimulants, refusing to name the assessing practitioner, prices only revealed as subscriptions, and silence when you ask what happens to your care after diagnosis. Any one of those is a reason to walk; two is a certainty.